Screen with tracer material and method of making the same

ABSTRACT

A screen including a screen segment having a mesh and a shroud radially outwardly of the mesh, a tracer material configured with a greater surface area than volume disposed radially inwardly of the shroud. A method for making a tracer screen including selecting a pattern of shroud holes in a screen cartridge for application of tracer material, applying tracer material into the selected holes, migrating the tracer material outwardly from the hole and between a mesh and the shroud of the screen cartridge. A borehole system including a borehole, a tubing string disposed in the borehole, and a tracer screen having tracer material with a greater surface area than volume disposed between a shroud and a mesh or a screen cartridge.

BACKGROUND

In the drilling and completion industry, it is often desirable to position tracer materials including tracer substances at positions within a borehole system to map produced fluids. The tracer materials are generally disposed as plastic blocks attached in or on tubular members with or without screens or other filtration material associated therewith. The blocks are traditionally put in place at a place of manufacture of the tubular member and or screen member. While the products available are effective in their intended use, there are drawbacks to the structural requirements necessary to placing such blocks and as noted they are generally disposed on tools at a place of manufacture rather than at a destination when more would be known about just what types of tracers might be most useful. As the art is always interested in improvements in efficiency, it will well receive alternate configurations and methods that yield such efficiency.

SUMMARY

A screen including a screen segment having a mesh and a shroud radially outwardly of the mesh, a tracer material configured with a greater surface area than volume disposed radially inwardly of the shroud.

A method for making a tracer screen including selecting a pattern of shroud holes in a screen cartridge for application of tracer material, applying tracer material into the selected holes, migrating the tracer material outwardly from the hole and between a mesh and the shroud of the screen cartridge.

A borehole system including a borehole, a tubing string disposed in the borehole, and a tracer screen having tracer material with a greater surface area than volume disposed between a shroud and a mesh or a screen cartridge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mesh retainer type cartridge of the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a illustration of the application of a particular geometric configuration of tracer material to the cartridge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a view illustrating one possible pattern of the injected tracer material;

FIG. 2B is a view illustrating one possible pattern of the injected tracer material and

FIG. 3 is a view of a downhole system employing the screen

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.

Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art cartridge type screen segment 10 is illustrated. The segment 10 includes a mesh 12 positioned radially inwardly of a perforated shroud 14. The mesh 12 may be a woven material, a wrapped material, etc. as is known to the art as filtration media for use downhole. If a cartridge of this type is to be used over a holed basepipe 16 known to the art and the configuration is one in which the cartridge 10 is dimensioned such that an inside dimension thereof is close in measurement to an outside diameter of the holed basepipe 16 upon which it will be installed, there is no room for a tracer block in a common position between the holed basepipe 16 and the cartridge 10 and hence the art has no effective way to utilize a tracer with such construction.

Referring to FIG. 2, a method for making a screen of the type described above into a tracer screen 20. For the embodiment, a tracer material is configured as a compound of a particular tracer substance (which may be a chemical or a radioactive material, non-halogenated compounds, inorganic salts, nitrate salts, alcohols, dyes, natural isotopes such as carbon-13, halogenated compounds such as fluorinated benzoic acid or sulfonic acid napthalenes, or combinations including one or more of the foregoing; a fluorescent substance such as: noble metals (gold, silver, platinum), fluorides, rare earth oxides (lanthanides), and combinations including one or more of the foregoing, and insoluble particle tracers (including nanoscale particles).) and a carrier fluid (which may be, for example, epoxy, silicone, precipitated silica, organic polymers, polyvinyl acetate, acrylates, ethylene vinyl acetate. Also organic polymers susceptible to hydrolysis such as polyurethanes, polyesters, polypeptides, polyesteramides, polysulfides, and polyhydroxy acids or a combination including one or more of the foregoing) that either has a viscosity allowing application but not allowing flowing without extreme application of pressure from an applicator 22 or exhibits a lower viscosity for easier application and is then hardenable (or otherwise becomes too viscous for flowing) within a practical period of time. In the particular embodiment of FIG. 2, it may be seen that the applicator 22 is a hand type applicator common to home projects. In such embodiment a tracer substance is added to an epoxy or silicone base material to create the particular tracer material 24 to be applied and which is then squeezed into an area directly radially inwardly of the shroud 14 and predominantly radially outwardly of the mesh 12. It will be appreciated that infiltration of the tracer material 24 in the mesh 12 will also occur at least to some extent. Created is a tracer material geometry that exhibits more surface area than volume, in contrast to prior art tracer material blocks such that tracer material may be disposed in a location (essentially between the mesh and the shroud) that is not possible in prior art tracer blocks. A greater area then is exposed to the produce fluid to ensure that tracer substances are indeed dissolved within the flow for positive identification downstream in the process.

Because some areas of the mesh 12 may be occluded by the tracer material 24, it is desirable to apply tracer material 24 to holes in a skipping pattern. Examples of appropriate patterns include: a checkerboard pattern, a helical pattern, etc. An example is illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B. One consideration for an effective pattern is to facilitate an even flow of produced fluid over the area of the screen.

Screens with tracer materials of the type described herein may be employed wherever needed in a downhole system such as that illustrated in FIG. 3. Illustrated is a borehole 30 having a string 32 therein, the string including a number of tracer screens 20 with tracer material 24 as described herein.

Set forth below are some embodiments of the foregoing disclosure:

Embodiment 1

A screen including a screen segment having a mesh and a shroud radially outwardly of the mesh, a tracer material configured with a greater surface area than volume disposed radially inwardly of the shroud.

Embodiment 2

The screen as in any prior embodiment wherein the tracer material infiltrates the mesh.

Embodiment 3

The screen as in any prior embodiment wherein the tracer material comprises a tracer substance and a viscous carrier fluid.

Embodiment 4

The screen as in any prior embodiment wherein the tracer substance is a chemical, a radioactive material or a combination including one or more of the foregoing.

Embodiment 5

The screen as in any prior embodiment wherein the viscous carrier fluid is epoxy, silicone or a combination including one or more of the foregoing.

Embodiment 6

A method for making a tracer screen including selecting a pattern of shroud holes in a screen cartridge for application of tracer material, applying tracer material into the selected holes, migrating the tracer material outwardly from the hole and between a mesh and the shroud of the screen cartridge.

Embodiment 7

The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the pattern is alternating.

Embodiment 8

The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the pattern is checkerboard.

Embodiment 9

The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the pattern is helical.

Embodiment 10

The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the applying is by hand applicator.

Embodiment 11

The method as in any prior embodiment wherein the migrating includes partial infiltration into the mesh.

Embodiment 12

A borehole system including a borehole, a tubing string disposed in the borehole, and a tracer screen having tracer material with a greater surface area than volume disposed between a shroud and a mesh or a screen cartridge.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. Further, it should further be noted that the terms “first,” “second,” and the like herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The modifier “about” used in connection with a quantity is inclusive of the stated value and has the meaning dictated by the context (e.g., it includes the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity).

The teachings of the present disclosure may be used in a variety of well operations. These operations may involve using one or more treatment agents to treat a formation, the fluids resident in a formation, a wellbore, and/or equipment in the wellbore, such as production tubing. The treatment agents may be in the form of liquids, gases, solids, semi-solids, and mixtures thereof. Illustrative treatment agents include, but are not limited to, fracturing fluids, acids, steam, water, brine, anti-corrosion agents, cement, permeability modifiers, drilling muds, emulsifiers, demulsifiers, tracers, flow improvers etc. Illustrative well operations include, but are not limited to, hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, tracer injection, cleaning, acidizing, steam injection, water flooding, cementing, etc.

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A screen comprising: a screen segment having a mesh and a shroud radially outwardly of the mesh; a tracer material configured with a greater surface area than volume disposed radially inwardly of the shroud.
 2. The screen as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tracer material infiltrates the mesh.
 3. The screen as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tracer material comprises a tracer substance and a viscous carrier fluid.
 4. The screen as claimed in claim 3 wherein the tracer substance is a chemical, a radioactive material or a combination including one or more of the foregoing.
 5. The screen as claimed in claim 3 wherein the viscous carrier fluid is epoxy, silicone or a combination including one or more of the foregoing.
 6. A method for making a tracer screen comprising: selecting a pattern of shroud holes in a screen cartridge for application of tracer material; applying tracer material into the selected holes; migrating the tracer material outwardly from the hole and between a mesh and the shroud of the screen cartridge.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pattern is alternating.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pattern is checkerboard.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pattern is helical.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the applying is by hand applicator.
 11. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the migrating includes partial infiltration into the mesh.
 12. A borehole system comprising: a borehole; a tubing string disposed in the borehole; and a tracer screen having tracer material with a greater surface area than volume disposed between a shroud and a mesh or a screen cartridge. 